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Hello,

I have multiple Tech21 Sansamp pedals:

Blonde
Oxford
Leeds
Classic (on its way)

I think they are great but you do have to tweak quite a bit to find "that" sound. What are some good settings for those that have them?

Regards ...

BTW,

I, like most, are interested in "in front of a clean amp" (with the speaker sim disengaged) settings ...

I only hae experience with them as in-a-pinch amp replacements so shrug.

Personally, I don't like them. 1/8 turn of a knob and you're in new territory. Also, I don't think they sound like tube amps.

That being said, I was always sure to boost the mids and have the character knob around 2:00

JonnyAngle wrote:Personally, I don't like them. 1/8 turn of a knob and you're in new territory. Also, I don't think they sound like tube amps.

That being said, I was always sure to boost the mids and have the character knob around 2:00

I can't find many real amp vs sansamp examples. I can't say how closely they mimic the amps they are based on. I just got the Oxford pedal and it is peculiar. It sounds staticky and weird at low volumes but really resonates nicely at high volumes. Certain nuanced harmonics are lost when the volume is low. I've read that in certain settings the Oxford sounds quite close to a Rockerverb. The Blonde sounds great at lower volumes but you need to nudge up the volume on Blackface settings.

I'll post settings shortly, but clips may be hard to get because my neighbors have not been cooperative recently

You can get some nice thick hard rock/stonerish sounds out of the Oxford with this setting:

Level: Variable (start with slightly above 9 O'clock)
Low: 1 O'clock
Mid: 1 O'clock
High: 3 O'clock
Character: 2-3 O'clock
Drive: 2-4 O'clock *depending on taste
Speaker Sim: Disengaged

I put this in front of a clean solid state amp. I also engage the sonic stomp in the fx loop.

JereFuzz

Edited 12/23/2016: Was way off in my settings ... updated to reflect what I meant

I've waffled so hard on buying a Leeds to throw in the guitar case for a backup amp solution, but no XLR out kinda sucks. Pretty much every bass DI/floor pre has one, including my Sansamp. Also sorry, no help whatsoever on settings. :^/

JonnyAngle wrote:Personally, I don't like them. 1/8 turn of a knob and you're in new territory. Also, I don't think they sound like tube amps.

That being said, I was always sure to boost the mids and have the character knob around 2:00

I can understand why you wouldn't like them. They have a huge range of sounds and a change to the character knob will require that you go back and change every other setting. It's easy to get a lot of bad sounds; but when you dial in a great sound it is indeed great.

This Oxford setting sounds great for Rage Against the Machine Sounds:

Level: Variable (start with slightly above 9 O'clock)
Low: 3 O'clock
Mid: 9-10 O'clock
High: 3 O'clock
Character: 9-10 O'clock
Drive: 3 O'clock to Max
Speaker Sim: Disengaged

I put this in front of a clean solid state amp.

Here's another (Great Groove Metal Setting):

Level: Variable (start with slightly above 9 O'clock)
Low: MAX
Mid: 10 O'clock
High: 1-2 O'clock
Character: 4 O'clock
Drive: 2-3 O'clock to Max
Speaker Sim: Disengaged

I put this in front of a clean solid state amp.

OXFORD: I've been messing with the character knob and what I've determined is that at its absolute minimum (7 O'clock) the EQ tends to create some pretty harsh highs if/when the high knob exceeds 12 O'clock. You can move both the bass and mids knobs pretty high without too many problems. The drive gets dirty but never reaches hard rock/grunge/metal distortion. As you turn up the character knob, mids begin to really boost in a very aggressive way. If the character knob is maxed, the mids become unruly so you definitely want to keep the mids under control as you increase the character knob. The mids can add "body" to the sound but diminishing returns begin after 12 O'clock. As you turn up the character knob the highs begin to tame. As you turn up the character knob the lows begin to get fatter but not in a muddy/gross way. If you have the character knob around 3 O'clock, dropping the mids near the minimum and maxing the bass and high, while pushing the drive toward 3 O'clock and a bit beyond, gives a HEAVY sound. Great for doom/metal. Creep up the mids for a bit more "body".

oldangelmidnight wrote:

A classic setting but I don't have the SansAmp Classic. It's not in production right now. But it will be in the future according to a Tech 21 rep. I'll eventually pick one up. I had to cancel a Sam Ash order but replaced it with U.S. Steel and EHX Worm.

I wish there was software where I could adjust settings with the software and save them as a pdf ...

I created a website and decided to put the various settings on the site. Check it out: http://www.oceanicvolts.com/

JereFuzz wrote:Hello,

I have multiple Tech21 Sansamp pedals:

Blonde
Oxford
Leeds
Classic (on its way)

I think they are great but you do have to tweak quite a bit to find "that" sound. What are some good settings for those that have them?

Regards ...

On my original SansAmp (very first version, had it for 27 yrs now) I like it set with the Amp Drive on 0, Presence Drive just above noon, High just above noon, and Output anywhere from just above noon to 3 o'clockish. I always leave it on the Rhythm setting, with the Low Drive, and both Mid Boosts on.

Bestest clean to not so clean boost I ever used, and much more usable/manageable than my Java, but the Java is still my #1 because what it does is soooo filthyliciociously good and nasty.